हिंद महासागर में स्थित एक फ्रेंच द्वीप,

रीयूनियन हिंद महासागर में स्थित एक फ्रेंच द्वीप है। यह द्वीप मेडागास्कर, से लगभग 200 किलोमीटर की दूरी पर स्थित है। रीयूनियन यूरोपीय संघ का सबसे बाहरी क्षेत्र है। यहां सुमुद्र तट देखने लायक होते हैं। यह एक बहुत सुंदर स्थान है। हर साल बहुत से पर्यटक यहां आते है।

    

Réunion (La Réunion, IPA: previously Île Bourbon) is a French island with a population of 840,974 inhabitants (as of January 2013) located in the Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar, about 200 kilometres (120 mi) southwest ofMauritius, the nearest island.

Before the arrival of the Portuguese in the early sixteenth century, there is little European knowledge of Réunion's history. Arab traders were familiar with it by the name Dina Morgabin. The island is possibly featured on a map from 1153 AD by Al Sharif el-Edrisi. The island may also have been visited by Swahili or Malay sailors.

The first European discovery of the area was made around 1507 by Portuguese explorers, but the specifics are unclear. The uninhabited island may have been first sighted by the expedition led by Dom Pedro Mascarenhas, who gave his name to the island group around Réunion, the Mascarenes. Réunion itself was dubbed Santa Apolónia after a favorite saint, which suggests that the date of the Portuguese discovery may have been February 9, her saint day. Diogo Lopes de Sequeira is said to have landed on the islands of Reunion and Rodrigues in 1509.

Over a century later, nominal Portuguese rule had left Santa Apolónia virtually untouched. The island was then occupied by France and administered from Port Louis, Mauritius. Although the first French claims date from 1638, when François Cauche and Salomon Goubert visited in June 1638, the island was officially claimed by Jacques Pronis of France in 1642, when he deported a dozen French mutineersto the island from Madagascar. The convicts were returned to France several years later, and in 1649, the island was named Île Bourbonafter the House of Bourbon. Colonization started in 1665, when the French East India Company sent the first 20 settlers.

Ethnic groups present include people of African, Indian, European, Malagasy and Chinese origin. Local names for these are: Yabs,Cafres, Malbars and Zarabes (both ethnic groups of Indian origin) and Chinois. All of the ethnic groups comprising the island are immigrant populations that have come to Réunion from Europe, Asia and Africa over the centuries. There are no indigenous people on the island as it was originally deserted. These populations have mixed from the earliest days of the island's colonial history (indeed, the first settlers married women from Madagascar and of Indo-Portuguese heritage) resulting in a majority population of mixed race and of "Creole" culture.

It is not known exactly how many people there are of each ethnicity since the French census does not ask questions there about ethnic origin, which applies in Réunion because it is a part of the 1958 constitution, and also due to the extent of racial mixing on the island. According to estimates, whites (petits blancs and gros blancs) make up approximately one-quarter of the population, Indians make up roughly a quarter, and people of Chinese ancestry form roughly 3%. The percentages for mixed race people and those of Afro-Malagasy origins vary widely in estimates. There are also some people of Vietnamese ancestry on the island, though they are very few in number.

People of South Indian origin make up the majority of the Réunionnais of Indian origin; Gujarati, Bihari and other origins form the remainder of the population. The island's community of Muslims from North Western India, particularly Gujarat, and elsewhere is commonly referred to as Zarab.